Study for Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle

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Study for Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle
Study for Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle
Study for Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Study for Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle
Date
c.1765 (undated)
Medium
Graphite on two sheets of cream laid paper laid down on grey paper with wash lining in black ink, the whole laid down on cream card
Dimensions
Metric: Object: 316 x 430 mm; image pages together: 207 x 321 mm
Imperial: Object: 12 7/16 x 16 15/16 in.; image pages together: 8 1/8 x 12 5/8 in.
Accession Number
63.52.296
Wilson Online Reference
D367
Description
An eastward view from the western end of the two lakes, Llynnieu Nantlle, Gwynedd, North Wales, where the stream Afon Llyfni ran out towards the sea. In the central distance is Y Wyddfa, the summit of Snowdon, and beneath it a sunlit knoll, known as Clogwyn y Gareg. In the middle ground are the slopes of Mynydd Mawr (left) and two unidentified peaks (right), perhaps intended as Mynydd Tal y Mignedd and Trum y Ddysgl. Two boats are sailing on the nearer lake and in the central foreground three figures are sihouetted against the water.
Provenance
A. Chariatte; Sir Bruce Ingram; P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London; purchased by the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 1963
Signature/inscription
Unsigned; inscribed by Wilson:
[1[ Upper right in graphite: Snowdon
[2] Left centre in graphite: Rain | Bow
Other words dimly visible but undiscernible
Collectors' marks
[1] Verso, red stamp, lower left corner: AC within a rectangle, A. Chariatte (Lugt Suppl. 88a)
[2] Verso, lower right corner, black ink stamp: 'I' in octagonal frame, Sir Bruce Ingram (Lugt Suppl. 1504a)
Verso inscriptions
[1] Secondary support inscribed lower right: A325
[2] Lower centre, pencil: 115
Related Drawings
D4 Box Hill, Surrey, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, New Haven
D263 Coast Scene, near Barmouth, The British Museum
D370 Conway Castle, The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
Related Prints
E30 William Woollett after Wilson Snowden Hill and the adjacent Country in North Wales (1775); and other states and impressions
Related Paintings
P152 Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle, Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool and other versions
Related Works by Other Artists
[1] Thomas Sunderland (1744-1823), Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle, watercolour, National Museum Wales (NMW A 5767)
[2] George Barret Sr, Llyn Nantlle, North Wales, 1763-64, Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery, Exeter, Devon (359/1971)
[3] J.M.W. Turner, Buttermere Lake, with Part of Cromackwater, Cumberland, a Shower, RA 1798, Tate, London (N00460)
[4] Antony Vandyke Copley Fielding, Snowdon from Llyn Nantlle, c.1830, The National Library of Wales / Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
Critical commentary
Clearly taken on the spot, the drawing is on two pages of a sketch book, each 162 mm (6 in.) wide. Other double pages from the same book seem to be D4 and D370. David Solkin proposed D263 as a single page from the same sketchbook and a further page with a drawing of a ruined tower is known but currently unlocated.
Bibliography
Solkin 1978, p. 409, pl. 25a
More Information
Today there is only one expanse of water, Llyn Uchad, the further lake visible here, but in the 18th century there were two separate lakes, upper and lower, divided by a spit of land. The lower lake, Llyn Isaf, seen here in the foreground, was drained in the 19th century in order to protect neighbouring slate quarries from flooding.
Condition/Conservation
Some brown spotting overall. The supports are delaminating at the lower right corner.
Updated by Compiler
2022-06-27 00:00:00